The Arkansaw traveler., 1887-06-18

n wolf is going to do some more mis- chief to- night"
 He had scarcely spoken when his horse reared; that of his brother Fran cois began to plunge. X great bush covered with dead leaves parted, and huge animal-all gray-leaped out and shot through the woods
 Both men uttered something like growl of joy, and bending over the necks of their powerful horses, they flung them forward with one i'm mense effort of the whole body, shot them on with such a vim, exciting them with voice, gesture and spur, that the strong riders actually seemed to bc lifting the weighty steeds be- tween their thighs. and flying away with them.
 On they went at full speed, crashing through thickets, crossing ravines, scaling steeps, laundering down gorges, and blowing their horns with all the force of their lungs to call their dogs and their men.
 And all of sudden, during the headlong course, my ancestor struck his head against an enormous branch, which literally cleft his skull, and flung him dead on the ground, while his terrified horse ran away and dis appeared in the gathering gloom of the woods.
 The younger d'Arville at once drew rein, lcapcd to the ground, lifted his brother in his arms, and he saw that the brains were running out of the great wound with the blood.
 Then he sat down beside the corpse, rested the gory and disfigured head upon his knees and waited there, looking at his brothers immobile face. Gradually a fear came upon him, singular fear that he had never felt before, the fear of the darkness, the fear of the desolate forest, the fear of solitude, and also the fear of that weird wolf which had killed his brother by way of averaging himself on both of them.
 The darkness thickened; the cold made cracklings in the trees. Francois rose up shuddering, unable to remain there any longer, feeling himself ready to faint. Nothing could be heard, neither the voices of the dogs nor the sound of the horns, everything to the invisible horizon seemed dumb, and the solemn silence of the icy evening seemed full of something frightful and strange.
 He lifted in his giant arms the great body of Jean, placed it across the sad de, mounted and rode on slowly, feel ing dizzy as if drunk, haunted by all sorts of hideous and startling fancies.
 And suddenly great form passed across the darkening pathway It was the wolf. A shock of fear tingled through the hunter, coldness as of a trickling of water descended his back, and, like monk haunted by devil, he crossed himself, startled by this un- expected appearance of the frightful prowler. But as his eyes fell on the inert corpse lying on the saddle before him, his fear suddenly changed to an- ger; he shook with boundless rage.
 Then he spurred his horse and rushed after the wolf.
 He pursued him through thickets and ravines and hedges and woods which he could no longer recognize, keeping his eye ever fixed on the white shape flying through the night before him.
 His horse also seemed animated by supernatural spirit and vigor. He galloped straight on, with his neck stretched out, knocking the head and feet of the dead man, lying across the saddle, against the trees as he passed. Briars tore the hair, the dead forehead spattered the enormous trunks with blood as if battered against them; the spurs tore away the bark.
 And suddenly horseman and horse burst from the forest into a valley, just as a crimson moon showed her face above the crags. The valley was stony, closed in by enormous rocks. There was no issue; and the wolf, brought to bay at last, turned round.
 Francois uttered yell of joy that the echoes repeated like thunder peal, leaped from his horse, cutlass in hand.
 The wolf, with spine rounded and bristling, waited for him, crouching- his eyes scintillated like two stars. But the strong hunter first took his dead brother down from the saddle, seated him upon rock, and supported his head, now one mass of blood, with stones, and thundered into his ears, as if talking to deaf man:
 "Now, Jean, you'll have something to look ati Look af this io
 Then he flung himself on the mon- ster. He felt strong enough to over turn a mountain, to crush rocks in his hands. The beast strove to bite, to tear his entraiis; but he had immedi- ately seized him by the throat, with out even a thought of using his